Clothes prop



May 15 1934 L. J. MccupLoN 1,959,246

CLOTHES PROP Filed NOV. 27, 1935 ATTORNEY Patented May 15, 1934 CLOTHES PROP Lawrence J. McCullon, one-hall' to Ollie Moosicfla., assignor of Ladd, Moo'sic, Pa.

Application November 27, 1933, Serial No. 699,949

2 Claims.

The object of the invention is to provide a clothes prop having a clothesline seat and a latch closing the seat, so that the prop may be connected to the line by a simple upward movement which will effect retraction of the latch and the engagement of the line with the seat, thus preventing the prop being disengaged from the line in the event of its being dislodged from its footing, as is frequently the case as a result of undue wind pressure on the clothes or other goods attached to the line, as by more than the average blow; to provide a clothes prop in which the latch is readily retractable to provide for its disengagement from the line when it is desired to remove 15 it; to provide a prop in which the line seat has a high coeiiicient of friction; and generally to provide a clothes prop construction which, while highly eiiicient in operation, is, at the same time, of simple form and susceptible of cheap manufacture.

With this object in view, the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is illustrated `in the accompanying drawing but to which embodi- 25 ment the invention is not to be restricted. Continued use in practice may dictate certain changes or alterations and the right is claimed to make any which fall within the scope of the annexed claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the invention applied in operative position.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the prop head in the plane of the latch casing.

Figures 3 and 4 are sectional views on the planes indicated by the lines 3 3 and 4 4 respectively of Figure 2.

' The invention comprises a head l0 applied to the upper end of the prop 11 which is in the form 40 of a pole or stick, preferably of wood but which,

of course, may be of any other acceptable matev rial. The head is made of sheet material bent to provide an open side so that the resultant iianges 12 may straddle the stick or pole 1l at the upper end and be secured thereto, as by fasteners 14.

The sheet material forming the head isso bent as to provide a clothesline seat in the form of converging walls 15 extending from the upper end of the head downward to an intermediate point in its length, these walls being roughened, as indicated at 16, from the point of juncture, to

, an intermediate point in their lengths.

A division wall 1'? spans the flanges 12 and while being spaced from the side Wall 18 of the head,

(Cl. (iS-12) lies against the side of the stick 11, defining with the flanges 12 and with the wall 18a housing for the latch 19 which is in the form of a heavy wire strand having a straight' intermediate or shank portion and a connected bill 20, the bill being bent at an acute angle to the shank portion and extending through the slot 21 in one of the walls 15, with its extremity entering a perforation 22 in the opposite wall. The latch is pvoted, as indicated at 23, at the lower end of its shank portion, this pivot being disposed considerably to one side of the vertical plane in which lies the meeting edges of the walls 15 and beyond the pivot 23 the latch is formed with a tail portion 24 terminating in a linger piece 25, which is exterior to the head by reason of the tail portion extending through a slot 26 formed in one of the fianges 12.

A tension spring 27 is anchored one end in the latch housing and the other to the shank of the' Alatch and tends to pull the latch in a direction where the extremity of the bill is in the perforation 22.

The construction provides for readily engaging the head of the prop with a clothesline, such as indicated at 28, since it may be raised to bring the line within the space bounded by the upper ends of the converging walls 15. Continued upward movement of the prop will then bring the line into engagement with the bill 20 of the latch and by reason of the offset position of the pivot 23 of the latch, the latter will be deiiected laterally against the pull of the spring 27. After it has been moved a sufficient distance to permit the passage of a line into the crotch defined by the meeting ends of the walls 15, it will be returned to its normal position, so that it will thus be secured to the line and may only be removed therefrom by retraction of the line which may be accomplished by manual depression of the nger piece 25. 95

While the latch will prevent disengagement oi the prop from the line in the event that the footing of the stick 11 is dislodged, it is not designed to maintain a tight connection with the line. The upright position of the prop is attained by tensioning the line according to the usual practice and by reason of the line seat defined by the meeting ends of the walls 15 being roughened or corrugated, a seat having a high coefficient of friction is secured which obviates any possibility of the head of the prop slipping when the line 28 is under tension.

The invention having been described, what is claimed as new and useful is:

1. A clothes prop comprising a head formed with converging walls denning a clothesline seat where they meet, and a latch pivotally mounted in the head and formed Awith a terminal bill spanning said converging walls at points spaced from their line of juncture, the head being formed of metal and said converging walls in the zones of their line of juncture being roughened to provide a clothesline seat having a high coeiiicient of friction. -l

2. A clothesline prop comprising a head having a clothesline seat formed by converging walls Vextending downwardly and inwardly from its upper end, the head being formed with a housing, and a latch enclosed by said housing and comlprising a shank and connected tail portion pivot- J. MCCULLON. 

